Teacher 'Readiness' for Coaching It is important to recognise that teachers are at different levels of readiness and commitment to engage in reflection and change (Hopkins, Ainscow and West, 1990). Coaching is not always the most appropriate form of professional learning for all teachers. Coaching involves the ‘coachee’ being able to participate in cognitive discussions where they are guided by the coach's use of strategic questioning to take control of their own learning trajectory. In order to do this they need to possess the ability to interpret complex situations and respond rapidly to them. The more expert you are the more complexity you see and the more capable you are of making a response which supports students’ learning.
Please refer to the attached table that indicates Teacher Levels and appropriate professional learning support required (Julie Boyd 1994)
Professor Anne Edwards, Chair in Pedagogy at the School of Education, University of Birmingham
Teaching is very difficult and expert teachers are interpreting complex situations and responding rapidly to them all the time they are teaching and the more expert you are the more complexity you see and, this is a very important and, the more capable you are of making a response which supports pupils’ learning.
Now learning to do this takes time and we learn best when we learn with others and in the case of teachers those others include mentors, coaches and co-learners.
But as you become more adept at interpreting and acting you get better at identifying what it is that you want to work on and these things might be things such as how to engage that child or how to spend less time on Y to make more time for X which you think is more important.
So over time we see teachers taking control over their own learning trajectory and understanding their own needs much better and as a result of that they are better placed to seek out specialist knowledge and the kinds of resources that will support the actions that they want to take. In that situation coaches and co-learners can help them to expand their interpretations and work out ways of responding and judging for themselves whether or not they have helped pupils as learners and of course relationships with coaches and co-learners particularly can change over time.
Teacher 'Readiness' for Coaching
It is important to recognise that teachers are at different levels of readiness and commitment to engage in reflection and change (Hopkins, Ainscow and West, 1990).
Coaching is not always the most appropriate form of professional learning for all teachers. Coaching involves the ‘coachee’ being able to participate in cognitive discussions where they are guided by the coach's use of strategic questioning to take control of their own learning trajectory. In order to do this they need to possess the ability to interpret complex situations and respond rapidly to them. The more expert you are the more complexity you see and the more capable you are of making a response which supports students’ learning.
Please refer to the attached table that indicates Teacher Levels and appropriate professional learning support required (Julie Boyd 1994)
Are Expert Teachers 'Ready' for Coaching?
Professor Anne Edwards, Chair in Pedagogy at the School of Education, University of Birmingham
Teaching is very difficult and expert teachers are interpreting complex situations and responding rapidly to them all the time they are teaching and the more expert you are the more complexity you see and, this is a very important and, the more capable you are of making a response which supports pupils’ learning.
Now learning to do this takes time and we learn best when we learn with others and in the case of teachers those others include mentors, coaches and co-learners.
But as you become more adept at interpreting and acting you get better at identifying what it is that you want to work on and these things might be things such as how to engage that child or how to spend less time on Y to make more time for X which you think is more important.
So over time we see teachers taking control over their own learning trajectory and understanding their own needs much better and as a result of that they are better placed to seek out specialist knowledge and the kinds of resources that will support the actions that they want to take. In that situation coaches and co-learners can help them to expand their interpretations and work out ways of responding and judging for themselves whether or not they have helped pupils as learners and of course relationships with coaches and co-learners particularly can change over time.